The Last Lap

 We're counting the days now, as our mission is drawing to a close. But, that doesn't mean a decrease in the activity level, as we've been busier than ever (is that even possible?). Anyway, along with lots of work, we've had lots of fun! I'll recap here.

With the decreasing number of missionaries, we've been faced with the reality that we have a lot of apartments standing empty, with no near-term prospects of filling them. Of course, we joke that as soon as we close a bunch of apartments, the visa doors will once again open and we'll be flooded with new missionaries with no place to live. Actually, that's only a half-joke, since that is likely to be the case since the Covid restrictions appear to be easing world-wide. Anyway, in our ongoing program to weed out unneeded apartments, we closed the Chiayi sister's apartment on Feb. 22. This was one of the first apartments we worked on upon our arrival in Taiwan, when we set it up for three sisters to live there by moving in beds, desks, etc. Sister Wells packed, and I moved the furniture out and I somehow stuffed it all in the van while she cleaned the apartment. It was one of our classic long days on the road. One of the final tasks is to take photos of the meters so we can pay the final utility bills. This is a bit of a challenge, since the buildings here have the electric meters spread throughout the basement parking garage, the gas meter on the apartment balcony, and the water meters on the roof!

As we walked to 7-ll for a quick dinner, we passed a restaurant with a nice display out front.

The next day, I hit the road again, this time with Elder Turner and Elder DeWitt, to close the Shalu apartment. We did it in two trips to the Wufeng storage facility. The move was made more difficult by the strong winds blowing in Shalu, which is right next to the Taiwan Strait (ocean). The Shalu apartment is in a beautiful building, but it is badly located away from the population center (and, of course, super windy). So, we are glad to be out of this apartment. Shalu is a good area, though, so we will be opening a new apartment here in the near future.

The three of us have fun while we work!

I snapped this photo out the window, of a typical collector of stuff -
most do paper and cardboard; this gentleman appears to collect metal.
Notice the planter wall around the construction site in the background.

Sister Wells is very diligent in her studies, both of the gospel, and the Chinese language. She finished reading the Book of Mormon in Chinese! Here she is, studying characters while trying to stay warm in our unheated apartment.

I love watching the rice grow in beautiful Taiwan!

We found this classic Taiwanese food Sister Wells remembers from her days as a
young missionary. There is an (optional) egg hidden inside the burrito-like one on the right.
It is typically dipped in warm soy milk. We skipped that step!

A not-great photo of a nearby temple at night.

Sister Wells has wanted to buy a qipau dress, and located a store nearby the office that sells them. She tried on several and was delighted at the fit and look of three of them. But, when we went to buy them, we discovered that they cost about $650 US. Each! So, we did not buy them. I was disappointed for her, but we later found another store which sells them for much less. She ended up buying three tops, which will go well with either skirts or slacks. Here she is, modeling the three we bought.

On Saturday, we spent our P-Day with Jeff, visiting an old brewery which has been turned into a museum of sorts. It was pretty disappointing, but we enjoyed some of the artwork, including the gaily painted tanks. We also visited the nearby 'Third Market", which was filled with interesting shops.

Sunday, Sister Wells had another wonderful lesson for the Junior Primary, including a fun puppet theatre to tell the story of Abraham and Lot. Here are Xiao Yu ("Marshall") and LeLe participating.

Attendance at choir rehearsal was sparse, with just Sister Wells, Sister Chen, Sister Du,
and myself showing up. We are learning a version of "I Believe In Christ"

Ping An and her mother stopped by the office to invite us to dinner.
Ping An had lots of fun playing in the tree in our yard!

A (small) batch of new local missionaries arrived, including Elder Su,
pictured here with his parents.

Taiwan has lots of interesting signs. This one, for a pet store is still my favorite!

Elder and Sister DeWitt took the plunge and got bicycles!

We had long hoped to be able to tour the south end of Taiwan during our mission. We finally had that opportunity as we, along with Elder and Sister Turner (who are also going home soon), and ably guided by Elder and Sister Lin, spent a couple of days "down south."

Our first stop was actually a rest stop on the road south. The rest stops here are fabulous, with lots of great restaurants, and interesting grounds.

Our next stop was Kaohsiung, where we enjoyed a ferry ride to the Qujin district for some shopping and a visit to Cijin beach.

This gentleman needed a push.

We stopped in Jiadong, where we visited the home of many generations of the Hsiao/Sao family.
Photos from 150 years ago looked like they could just as well have been from 1,000 years ago.

Driving south, we stopped near Fanshan Township where we found this great rock shaped like Taiwan. We just had to get our feet in the water for the first time! 

A fluke power outage over much of Taiwan left us in the dark. Only a few restaurants were open, and most of them were sold out. We finally found a nice Thai place and enjoyed a messy dinner. We were tired when we reached "Wild East," our bed and breakfast in the mountains.

The next day, Friday, we toured the south of Taiwan.

Here are a few of the many photos recording the sights we saw!

Sister Wells imitated the "Picasso" rock formation in the Jialeshuei Scenic Garden

The Gankou suspension bridge and nature trail was an interesting stop.

A roadside stop gave us a beautiful view of the beach.

The Eluanbi Lighthouse is still in use, warning ships up to 22 miles away.

The sign says it all...

This is as far south as you can get in Taiwan!

We had lots of fun at Baiwashan ("white sand") beach.

Elder Lin taught us about the walled city of Hengchun, and we visited each of the gates.

We played and took photos on the Hengchen wall. No guard rail here, children!

She's playing with her "boy toy".

What an enjoyable day! We are so grateful to Elder Lin, who knows pretty much everything about Taiwan! We would never have been able to see and do what we did without him! He and Sister Lin went home Friday night. Saturday morning we got up, played around the house a little, and then left for home. 

Of course, we made some stops along the way. A temple in the distance caught our eye, and we made our way toward it. It turned out to be the "Tongfu Town An Palace", a very nice one, and fairly new. They had outgrown their previous temple and moved their images to this new facility. The guide was very friendly and even invited us to tea!

As we continued north, we noticed some strange roadside signs each featuring a large black mustache, and just had to stop to see what they were selling. It turned out to be a kind of chestnut, shaped just like the picture on the sign!

Elder Turner modeling his chestnut "mustache".

This area is also famous for its onions, so we stopped by a roadside stand and bought a bag.

Our next stop was the enormous Fo Guang Shan Great Buddha in Kaohsiung. 

The statue itself on its base stands 164 feet high. On it's building, its 354 feel tall. It is really something to behold!

Sister Wells was especially taken with the colorful lanterns.

With the fun over, it was time to go to work. We headed to Tainan to move the Yongkang elders to their new apartment. It was a big move, requiring two large loads in a rented truck. We disassembled the bunk beds, fixed a desk, and moved people back and forth. Even with a good crew, it took five or six hours. 

When we finished, it was dark and we were very hungry. Luckily, there was a night market just across the street from the new apartment. We grabbed dumplings and chicken sandwiches to eat on the road, and an ice cream cone to enjoy right away!

This was our "grand finale" and the only overnight vacation trip of our mission. We enjoyed being with the Lins and the Turners, and seeing so much of beautiful Taiwan and enjoying the people and culture of this wonderful country!